I would like to see some of the sky cropped out. The ground gives leading lines toward the horizon and people in the chairs, the sky does nothing but sit there and be empty space. A bit too much empty space in my opinion.
Personally, I don't like the amount of ground OR sky. Cropping from both ends would center attention more on the people. Love the B&W though. I'm still very new, so my opinion isn't the best to follow. Just stating what I would have done.
I have an opinion too. IMO I simply love it. Completely, thoroughly and exhaustively. When you know the rules, then you know when and how to break them.
The lines in the foreground serve their purpose by leading the eye to your subject. And the expansive skies just wouldn't be the same without that brooding emotion at the top of frame.
as far as the framing, I considered it more horizontal, with less ground or with less sky, and no matter what I did, I always came back to this, I felt far more drawn to the scene this way, but thats me
the half-half framing is perfect for this..in my view, the man-made tiling on the bottom half and natural beauity in the top half really exemplifies the two different realms of "this world". By cropping this in thirds, there would only be one focus...I love this photo